The present invention relates to browsing methods, articles and apparatus.
Many Internet portals provide a search engine with which a user may initiate an Internet search. The search engine returns a list of Web pages based upon a search expression received from the user.
Some search engines display a similarity value for each Web page in the list. Each similarity value numerically indicates a degree of correlation or relevance between its corresponding Web page and the search expression.
Oftentimes, the Web pages in the list are sorted based on the similarity values. By sorting the Web pages in this manner, the list presents highly-relevant Web pages before lesser-relevant Web pages.
Typically, the user selects a Web page from the list by clicking on an associated hyperlink. In response thereto, the Web page is retrieved via the Internet and displayed for the user. Upon viewing the Web page, the end user may return to the list to select another Web page. In response thereto, the other Web page is retrieved via the Internet and displayed for the user.
In some cases, a resulting selection-to-display time for a Web page is undesirably long for the user. The selection-to-display time may be undesirable if a low-speed modem is used, if the computer network is congested, and/or if the server providing the Web page is heavily utilized, for example.
Web browsing software typically provides a cache feature wherein local copies of previously-displayed Web pages are stored. By caching a previously-displayed Web page, the selection-to-display time may be reduced when returning to the Web page. However, the selection-to-display time for initially displaying the Web page may remain undesirable.